NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — It was another day of cross-examination for NYPD officer Kenneth Moreno as assistant district attorney Coleen Balbert grilled the cop accused of rape about the details on the night in question.

On that night in December 2008, both Moreno and his partner, Franklin Mata, were helping the drunk, then 27-year old woman. She claims she was raped, but on Wednesday Moreno flatly denied the accusation.

Balbert was determined to bring down Officer Moreno on his third day on the witness stand. She got Moreno to accidentally reveal a lot about himself at the end of this exchange:

Balbert: “What did you tell Officer Mata about what happened in the bedroom?”

Moreno: “Nothing.”

Balbert: “You never told Officer Mata that she tried to come on to you?”

Moreno: “No.”

Balbert: “You never told him any of these things?”

Moreno: “I never kiss and tell.”

That came after Balbert said she found it unbelievable that Moreno claimed he did not tell his partner, Officer Mata, what was going on inside that bedroom. But the tone between Moreno and Balbert got truly heated and so confrontational in this next exchange, Balbert was yelling.

Balbert: “After 17 years as a police officer, were you aware that having sex with someone when they are not able to give consent is a crime?”

Moreno: “That night? I wasn’t thinking about that then because …”

Balbert: “Answer yes or no!”

Moreno: “I didn’t have flash cards in front of me!”

Balbert: “Yes or no!”

Moreno: “Generally, yes.”

When the woman secretly recorded Moreno outside the 9th Precinct, Balbert wondered sarcastically why Moreno never used the moment to tell the woman she was the one who came on to him, as Moreno now claims.

Balbert: “Did you utter the words to her, ‘You were naked in that bedroom except for your bra!’ did you?!”

Moreno: “No.”

Balbert: “You never told her because it never happened!”

Moreno: “That’s not true.”

Earlier, Moreno claimed the woman called him into her bedroom on his third return visit to her East Village apartment.

Balbert: “When you walked in to the bedroom, you didn’t see she had just a bra on?”

Moreno: “She had covers wrapped around her.”

Balbert: “She pulled those off?”

Moreno: “She pulled them down and came over to me.”

Balbert: “You didn’t see her take off her dress?”

Moreno: “No.”

Balbert: “You did not see her take off her bra?”

Moreno: “No.”

Balbert attempted to establish that Moreno, who was on duty, engaged in some level of intimacy with the intoxicated woman he was summoned to help.

Balbert: “You said she tried to kiss you.”

Moreno: “Yes. And I turned my face. She touched my vest and she asked me what it was. I told her it was my bulletproof vest. She asked me if it works. I said I haven’t found out yet then I kissed her on the forehead.”

Balbert: “She rubbed her buttocks against your groin area?”

Moreno: “Yes.”

Balbert: “Was that unexpected?”

Moreno: “Yes. I told her there was another time for this.”

Under questioning, Officer Moreno then tried to characterize himself as a reluctant participant in an unfortunate situation.

Moreno: “She was holding my right hand, she loosened her grip. I was trying to slip out.”

Balbert: “You said you felt bad. You said you didn’t want to be there?”

Moreno: “I didn’t want to be there. I didn’t want to be lying on the bed. Not like that. I didn’t think any of that was going to happen.”

Do you think Moreno’s statement on the recording was genuine? Leave a comment below…

Irene Cornell

Irene Cornell has been a reporter at WCBS for 40 years, and she still comes to work with a smile.
Irene covers crime and the courts -- name an interesting local case and she's probably covered it -- and she says what keeps the job so fascinating...

One Comment

This case can go one of two ways they get off and don’t have to pay or they are convicted and then do. Each story has holes. The woman being drunk means something but not everything. Yes she was drunk and yes she was sick but even drunk you are able to remember the things that happened even if they are fuzzy. Also so what if she had sex, even those there was semen and it wasn’t a match to cop doesn’t mean he didn’t do it. I just means he used a condom and then took it or threw it away some where outside of the apartment building.

Now the Cop did put his foot in his mouth so to speak. While being cross-examined he did give off the sense that there is more to his story then he leading on. I mean he could have raped her. But he would have told the partner what had happened. He probably told the partner that he had sex with her and that was it. I mean she was drunk. He could have told the partner that she came onto him and then one thing lead to another. I’m sure that there are both men and women out there who in a drunken stuper had sex with someone hand woke up in the moring and either didnt remember or just didn’t want to remember.

What I will say guilty or not he should lose his job either way. It is not part of his jpb to take the women into her house and then visit three times. The only police officers who do that are the ones helping victims of a crime and keeping them updated on the direction the case is moving.

We shall see what will happen at the head of closing statements and when the virdict is read. Until then just stop trying to make it into this big deal about cops being corrupt and drunken woman being careless.

LET’S BE OBJECTIVE WHY WOULD POLICE OFFICERS “RETURN TO HER APT” 3 TIMES FOR WHAT?…..does NYPD PROTOCOL state you must return to the drunk persons Apts with their keys to check on them 3 times…????

NEXT QUESTION: WHY IS HE LYING IN HER BED??? DOES THE NYPD PROTOCAL state that you are to lie down in the public bed to comfort them when they are drunk?

NEXT QUESTION THE OTHER OFFICER is ASLEEP ON THIS WOMEN’S COUCH……? does the NYPD PROTOCOL state that officers can fall asleep on the public couch in their apartments when wanting to sleep….??

NEXT QUESTION, DOES THE NYPD PROTOCOL PERMIT OFFICERS TO CALL INTO DISPATCH WITH FAKE CALLS PRETENING TO BE CANADAIN WITH A THICK NY ACCENT??

THESE ACTIONS ARE ALL IN VIOLATION OF ALL NYPD PROTOCOLS CLEARLY INDICATE “COVER-UP”….NYPD PROTOCOL DEMANDS THAT SHE BE PUT IN AN AMBULANCE ALCOHOL BLOOD POISIONG IS SERIOUS STUFF, THAT IS WHY SHE WAS VOMITING SO MUCH AND SO
DISORIENTED

WAS SHE RAPED? …. YES…. WAS SHE ABLE TO PREVENT THE RAPE…NO……..THAT MAKES IT A CRIME

I FEEL VERY BAD FOR THE VICTIM I ALSO FEEL VERY BAD FOR THE OFFICERS BECAUSE THEY WERE NOT GUIDED BY NYPD PROTOCAL, NOT BY DUTY, NOT BY ETHICS, NOT BY THEIR OATH OF OFFICE BUT BY THEIR YKW……BUT YOU CANNOT TAKE ADVANTAGE NOR RAPE ANY MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC WHILE YOUR SOLE UNCOMPROMISING DUTY IS TO PROTECT THE PUBLIC BY UPHOLDING THE LAW… I HAVE NO DOUBT THAT THE NYPD TOP BRASS ARE TRULY STUNNED BY THE SHEER INSANITY OF THESE OFFICERS ACTIONS, AND I HOPE THAT TOP BRASS REALLY PUT IN PLACE CLEAR TOUGH MEASURES AGAINST NYPD OFFICERS TO WEED OUT BAD COPS BECAUSE GOD KNOWS NYPD IS FULL OF CORRUPT COPS LYING, COVERING UP, PLANTING EVIDENCE AND FALISFYING RECORDS AND SO MUCH MORE……

Let’s just answer all of your questions with a “no.” Police protocol does not call for any of these actions. How does violating “Police Protocol” equal rape? What evidence are you alleging was planted?

@ Ellen..excellent point..She definitely claims and her witness..cab driver and the “police” that she was so intoxicated that she not only regurgitated in the taxi but needed “police” assitance with gaining access to her apartment.
I HAVE A QUESTION…How could she not only remember that she was raped but exactly who she was raped by ???
This situation makes it extremely difficult for other women who have and will unfortunately be raped in the future. She gives the word RAPE..a very questionable word.
Did it or did it not actually happen, her vision and mind was so distorted by the alcohol/drug use..HOW CAN SHE IN FACT POSITIVELY IDENTIFY HIM ??
HE WILL WALK AWAY A FREE MAN….

Mrs. I. Understand. Didn’t they find seamen that was tested not to be that of the police officer in question? Then who did she have sex with and was it or wasn’t it consensual? the Defense could very well bring that up and argue that if she was raped it had to be someone else other then their client.

@Ellen..Either this woman is very nasty or just too busy..apparently they found semen samples on her sheets/pillows dating back months ago.
He claimed to wear a “condom during the sex that did not happen”. This is a sad day in NYC when there is a police officer accussed of raping a victim that he assisted in getting home after a wild night drinking/drugging. At the end of the day HE WILL GET OFF, it’s too many holes and inconsistencies in her story and HIS.
He is an idiot caught with his hand in the cookie jar, why did he go back a 3RD time, why did he call in a false claim, and to make matters worse he has his partner as a co- conspirator.
He needs to be in prison along with the criminals he has arrested.

Did you think the cops had a reason to fear Amadou Diallo? Did you think it was OK for him to be killed in cold blood?
If you defended that, then you are an “accomplice” in this rape. IT WAS YOU, COP APLOGISTS AND RACISTS that gave their tacit approval to this cop that he could get away with anything he wanted.
But I am glad she was white….sends a message to all the white folks out there….IT CAN HAPPEN TO YOU TOO

I Feel that he is guilty the women was wired & confronted the man & after he offered her a sit down in cafe of coffee & she refused & went on with a question of ‘did you or didn’t you? & how many were you’ & his reply was yes ‘oh well ok’ did you wear a condom at least’ & his sick ass replys yes!! well then he should be
locked away for a tight sentence. I say I really used to like the Police & i admit they all are not bad, but this class of people that enter the academies across the country now a days are nothing but vermon & Decadence……..

The Police Dept. has this “Blue Wall” that’s stronger than teflon. They stick together, they have inside and outside help that will get there brother off.
It will be based on a technicality..she had several semon residue left on her sheets and pillows from MONTHS ago. None of them matched him, “he did say he wore a condom”..and therefore there is no link between the two other than her words against his.
He’ll be given probation and back on the job by midsummer..oh yeah after he resumes his Employee Alcohol Counseling..

WOW..what a bunch of crock..”I didn’t want to be there”..yet he came back THREE times..I told my Obstetrician the same thing 21 years ago, yet I’ve been in the delivery room fives times.
Give me a break, he knew exactly what his perverted mind was doing. He’s remorseful now because he got caught. He’s a pervert with a badge who needs to be stopped. He’s a recovering alcoholic himself who apparently still has his own demons. Lock him up with the rest of the criminals.

It is what it is people. And what it is is a whole lot of nothing and no DNA. He said She said, like somebody posted here. For everybody who’s bashing cops — and personally I can’t stand them — who of you has ever NOT drank more than you should have and not remembered SHt trhe next day? Who’s to say nobody else was with her. After all she doesn’t remember. A upper class woman too embarrassed to tell her friends and family that she puked in a cab that the driver had to call the police to help. So what if they went into her apartment — yes, they should be reprimanded for that but it still does not mean anything happened. Girl should held her liquor and her so-called hoity-toity friends seeing that she was that out of it should not have let her go home alone. Period. Some friends. Money obviously doesn’t buy class. This girl needs to just drop this, let it go and learn a big lesson about drinking like she has a bottomless pit.

You forget; if found guilty a huge lawsuit and payday from nyc and even though they wont back the cops and they will have a judgemnet against them the city will still be liable as well; $$$$$; even if found not guilty there still will be a lawsuit

Everyone is innocent until proven guilty. As a female I have some serious doubts to what the accuser is saying. Sorry if she showered she would have washed the make up off and now she is suing? Why now why not after the trial is over. If i was raped I would want justice in a court of law not think about suing. She claims to be so drunk she cannot remember anything but being “raped” I have to wonder if she was that drunk and that is the only thing she can “remember” did it really happen or was that part of a drunken dream she was having

This whole thing stinks of guilt for these two dumb cops ! Again, I don’t understand why when the police call came in about a drunk girl, that they didn’t send a police women to the call ? There are sooo many holes in these cops story.Just dumb and dumber !

Did these two cops take polygraph tests? I am guessing they failed or refused polygraphs or they would have been used to dissuade prosecution. I know its not admissible in court, but I was thinking.
Are fellow police officers supporting these two cops? Is there any police show of support in the courtroom?
I can’t believe the defense – “She stripped to her pink bra, I got into bed with her, she was grinding me, we cuddled, I sang to her, we bonded – but no sex whatsoever”
Can you say legal malpractice?

He looks not guilty but someone who has been through hell and fighting to save his job. I have seen “guilty” people look like little angels and then the truth comes out. I do not buy her story to me as a female what she is saying and acting does not add up. Let the jury decide not us. As for the mark in her cervix how many

Let’s see now. If I remember correctly from news items in this matter…the accused cop says all he did was hold her in his arms…and sing to her. My, my, what a touchy-feely, concerned, protective police department we have here in NYC.

Hold her and sing to her. Right! Hold her down and sing to high heaven while raping her.

SOME COPS LIKE KENNY MORENO ARE CONCERNED……NOT TOO MANY COPS CARE. HE DID CARE. THERE IS NO EVIDENCE THAT A RAPE TOOK PLACE. WHO TAKES A SHOWER AFTER A SO CALLED ALLEGED RAPE. HOWEVER, SHE DOES NOT TAKE OFF HER MAKEUP!!!!!GO FIGURE.

IF YOU KNOW ANY GUYS OR COPS FOR THAT MATTER NO WAY THIS GUYS WAS GOING BACK THERE TO CHECK ON HER. THAT’S NOT HIS JOB, HE COULD HAVE CALLED FOR AN EMT IF HE FELT SHE WAS TOO DRUNK. A GUY DOESNT GO BACK 4 TIMES DURING THE NIGHT TO CHECK ON A GIRL BECAUSE HE’S CONCERNED, THAT IS JUST LAUGHABLE. MORE THAN 50 PERCENT OF RAPE CONVICTIONS ARE WITHOUT DIRECT EVIDENCE OF RAPE. BY THAT STANDARD A LOT OF GUYS CONVICTED OF RAPE SHOULD BE WALKING THE STREETS. IF THESE GUYS GET OFF THEN IT’S OPEN SEASON ON WOMEN IN THIS CITY. DIVA YOU NEED TO GET YOUR HEAD EXAMINED, HOPE NOTHING EVER HAPPENS TO YOUR DAUGHTER, COUSIN, OR NIECE THAN WE’LL SEE WHICH SIDE YOU ARE TRULY ON. I’M A GUY AND I’M DISGUSTED BY WHAT THEY DID TO A DRUNK GIRL, IT WASN’T RIGHT.

why not protest for real issues going on in the world today like health care, job losses? If I had a dime for everytime someone uses a vuglar or not so nice word for female body parts I would be rich. Let the damm jury decide who is right or wrong. hell it was a word duh

How can a comment ever be a hate crime? Where is the underlying crime? Maybe it was insensitive, but it was certaintly protected speech by the First Amendment. Words don’t become crimes merely because you or anyone elxe is offended by them.